City Council - Regular Meeting

All our minds to get to this point.

I would like to call to order the Tuesday, July 21st meeting of the Danville City Council. Roll call to establish a quorum, please.

Mayor Ricky Williams, Jr.?

Present.

Vice Mayor Eve Ludwig. Present. Alderman Ed Butler. Carolyn DeToy. Present. James Peshard.

Present.

Tom Hightower.

Here.

Barry Johnson.

Present.

Mike O'Kane.

Here.

Mike Poore.

Present.

Rick Strebing. Sherry Pickering. Here. Tricia Teague. Present. Jaleel Jones.

Here.

Doug Ahrens. John Cooper. Here. 11 present.

11 present we do have a quorum at this time we will have the Pledge of Allegiance I'm sorry the invocation at this time though we will have the invocation

She's a pastor. There's Phyllis Bourne.

Sister Bourne, would you be willing to give us the prayer this evening?

I will.

Sister Bourne, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Alderman Pickering, please rise. Amen.

Father God, we thank you for this blessed opportunity we have to come before you right now. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to come and pray for our city, pray for our mayor, pray for the city council, pray for all those that are working for the city to make the city better. We thank you, Lord, for blessing everyone that is here tonight. We thank you, Lord, for covering us, Lord, to be able to speak and have a word, Lord, that will help heal the city of Danville. Now, Father, we know that as we begin to come together tonight, God, you will be in the midst of everything that is being said and done. We ask right now, God, that you post your angels in this house, in this room. Let it sit on every tongue and every mind and every spirit that is here. Bind up every demonic force that may try to come against every word that you have to speak. And we thank you right now. In Jesus' name we pray. It is so. Amen and amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag.

Thank you, Sister Bourne and Alderman Pickering. We appreciate you all.

Thank you. Thank you.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the July 7th meeting? So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye any opposed same sign thank you very much you have an agenda before this evening I apologize there's a typo on 6d1 there is not a presentation of the comprehensive plan this evening that has already been presented to the council and to the committee so we need to strike 6d1 from the agenda other than that is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented so moved second It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion or debate? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Thank you very much. I do not have any proclamations for you this evening. However, at this time, I would entertain a motion to occur with the reappointment of Lisa Monson to the Fireman's Pension Board with a term expiring April of 2029. Is there a motion? Moved and concurred. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. Thank you very much. At this time, are there any reports of boards, agencies, or commissions? seeing on a couple of items of information just want to remind everybody on the first sunday of august is our community day which will be held at lincoln park we have a host of singers and community booths that will be there candy foster will be the main entertainment for those of you don't know he's a local blues jazz legend he lives he lives in champaign but he's from danville he's played with the likes of bb king and everyone you can think of under the sun so Hope you'll come and join us. Of course, we'll have food. There will be a county market. The South is generous to donate chicken to us. And then we'll also have barbecue, hot dogs, hamburgers, and sides. So hope you'll also have some bounce houses for the young people. So hope that you all will come out and join us on that day. Two to four. And Alderman, remember, and city team, we can always use help with serving. So if you're able to be there, we would love to have you. I also want to remind everyone we have coming up our next first Friday, and we'll be looking forward to you, I believe it's August 1st?

It's the 7th this time. The 7th.

I got my days mixed up. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Madam Clerk, at this time, are there any petitions, communications, or audience comments?

Yes. When I call your name, please come to the podium. You'll have three minutes to speak. PJ Bourne.

Greetings. I was looking at the agenda today, and I know that I've spoken to the city council before about the renaming of my street, which I am still as well requested that my street name be changed. But as I looked at the agenda, I did not see where it was written in the agenda. So I don't know who is writing the agenda, if it is a typographic area where it was written, left off but I'm asking again that you will review it and consider that because again there's no one on that street but me and I have no neighbors so I have no one to answer to as far as my street name being changed and so I'll continue to ask that as well. I do know that I did send a letter out to you, and you have the letter, but I know that it's not, even with the letter, has not been addressed on the agenda. I did see everything else on the agenda, but I did not see where my street change name was on there as well. So I'm also asking Danville as a whole, as you're listening to me over the airways or the radios or WW, the wide web, however you are listening to me, I wish that you would come forward and also help me if I've done anything to help Danville as a whole, as a citizen, to come forth and be able to assist the city council in making this decision for me to get my street changed. Again, I'm the only one on that street, and so I thank you all for coming forth to Danville, to the city council, and asking them also to allow me to have my street changed since I'm the only one on that street. I thank you so much and I thank you also, Mayor, and also find out who writes the agenda and maybe they will put that in there as well. Again, I thank you.

Thank you.

Deanne Ryan.

Hello, I'm here on behalf of the homeless again, and I do want to express my thanks to the council for giving the growing homeless situation the contribution for the men's shelter. That's a start, but we have to remember there's a much larger issue we need to face with the unhoused and the citizens who are unable to access affordable housing. We have huge opportunities to put together a plan. I was over in Champaign on, I think, Sunday at an event, and Alderman Teague was there also, and listening to the mayors of the Champaign-Rantoul area, and I think the Champaign mayor said that they were talking about their goals for the next year, and they said housing and homeless were so important, they were thinking about making that the only goal for a year. So, you know, they're... Moving ahead, we have a lot of opportunity. I also want to remind everybody that I've talked to you before about our continuum of care, which is our countywide entity that talks about funding from HUD and funding for homeless and does a data count. We go out once a year and do the point in time. And just to remind you that we need every city-funded homeless project at that table. You know, the men's shelter I don't think has been participating. We do have Alderman Teague goes, and we do have several of the staff go to the continuum, but we have to get the data together. And without that data from the men's shelter and other shelters in town, we have nowhere to start when it comes to asking for any funding. So we need that, we need timely data. I do want to tell you that Vermillion County was targeted for a HUD grant, planning grant for looking at a project to develop housing or respite housing for the homeless coming out of hospitals. We have people coming out of the hospitals, well actually they're cycling in and out of the hospitals because they don't have good stable housing. But they have to be discharged to the street a lot of times. They can't get home health care or navigator services because they're living without an address. So we did get funding with our regional continuum to do a planning grant. And we will have a pilot project up and going by spring of next year. And then there will probably be money for additional services. And that's a start. At least we're keeping people who are ill off the streets, hopefully. But we need that data, and we need everybody to participate, and we need accountability from the agencies that you fund. We need to know how many people are going in, how many people are on the waiting list, how many people. Thank you, Mrs. Ryan. Thanks. Tonya Davis.

Good evening. I'm coming in regards to a bill that I have received, a garbage bill that I have received. No one's been living in that house since November 2024. I acquired the house. That house was deeded to me this February, 2026. So I'm just asking that the bill is $270.50. I'm just asking for a reduction because the house has been empty. No one's living there. I haven't received any bills. This is the first time I got a bill, and I don't even go. I probably go to the house probably about once a month. So I came down to the city to give them my current address, because I don't reside there, and I gave my current address, and I just happened to go by there, and this is how I got this bill. But I'm just asking, and then the people across the street told me that someone, whoever lives at, resides at 419 Anderson, stole the garbage can, so I'm not getting, there's no garbage being picked up because there's no garbage there, and no one's been residing there since 2024. So I'm just asking if you all would consider a reduction in my bill, please. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Davis. Thank you.

Brenda Brown.

Blake, before we have Alderman Brown come forward, could you please check the microphone? I don't know what's happening, but we're getting a lot of reverberation in the audience microphone. Maybe if we need to adjust. Alderman Brown, I want to be sure everyone can hear you clearly. Can we get it recorded clearly? Can you give us a testing few words? We won't start your time.

Testing, testing. Yeah, it's not even. That's better. Is that better? Yes. Yes, ma'am. OK, very good. Thanks, ma'am. To the mayor and to the council this evening, I want to speak to you on your agenda. It's 13B, potential change in treasure selection. Before I speak, I would just like for everyone in the room, and especially the council and the mayor, To my right, there's a picture that's on the wall. We have seven plaintiffs that spent time and money and their talents on changing the form of government for the city of Danville. This was decreed in 1987, and it is a federal court order that the treasurer's job is an elected position, and it was titled under the Voters' Rights Act. So wanting to change this to an appointed position versus it being an elected position. I don't know how many of the council have read the decree or any information on this at all. But I have. Matter of fact, I was around when it was being changed and being taken the time with these seven plaintiffs here. to make this change for the betterment of this city of Danville. And it's been a few years that it's tried to change the government from the aldermanic to city manager and what have you. It's been constant to try to change this. And I just want to let you know that it was a lot of hours and time put in to change, and it was for the good of the city of Danville. It was good for the citizens of Danville. And I believe what has happened, there's been maybe some issues within the city hall that the reason this has come about. But I beg of you, I beg of you to take time, read this in its entirety. the consent decree. Read it in its entirety so you get a good understanding why it was done so that there would be equal representation throughout this city. There would be reasons that not only equal representation, but equality throughout the city of Danville and especially for Voters Rights Act because I believe it was wars one and three that was highly populated by the black citizens and we had no representation. So this was studied. It wasn't just thrown together. It was studied and took a lot of time and a lot of hours for these men that we look at when we come into this building and we see them every week and I highly respect them, highly respect them for what they did. They are men of integrity and dignity and to wipe out what they have went to bat for through the law, to make this possible for the citizens of Danville. I beg you to not change this from appointed. Leave it as an elected position for the point of being equality for the city and for the citizens of Danville. Let them make this election. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman Brown. Question.

Question. Rick.

Catherine Ewing.

Good evening, everybody. I would just like to say, just wanted to take time out to speak from my heart. It's been a rough time for Danville Rescue. We had a long road. I gave each and every one of you a copy of the insurance so y'all can see. So homeless is a big issue here in Danville. Me and my husband came in when VCR was about to close. They closed the doors. So we came in on that. We had a blackout over us. But it's been rough, even with talking time, trying to make partnerships with people, taking time, interacting with people to even open up. Now that we're open, we're struggling day by day. I mean, we have been transparent with y'all every day. I mean, whoever came, asked, we've been transparent. So homeless men, at least they have a safe place to go and feel safe. and understand that there's no zero tolerance at the homeless. So a lot of people, a lot of men don't like rules. But there's rules for a place so that they can be safe. So here is where I know I've stepped out on faith. And I know God has led us all this way to now. And I appreciate y'all for having to be able to. do this for us. I really do. But I've been thinking about the last couple of, was it last week? Y'all were talking about your spike. Your, mm-hmm. Thank you, yes. And I was saying was, If y'all can share with them, or even partnership with that, because some of y'all did say that y'all were voting and saying, I don't want it, or I don't think we need it. So even if it's $10 a month, but if we can Partners at $10 a month, knowing that it's guaranteed $10 each month. It don't have to be $200, $300. It could be $10 from each and every one of y'all. That'll help us in a mighty way. Because this $2,500 carry a little bit mostly of that insurance. But there's still light bill. There's still this. We got the cooling place. We got the heating place. But like Hebrew 10, 24, and 25 said, and let us consider how to stir up one another to the love and the good works and not neglect to meet together as a habit of some, but encourage one another and all more as you see day draw near. Homeless means a lot to me. I'm compassionate with it. I love helping people. But I don't want it to shut down. And just because the city gives us $2,500, we still got light bills and bills to pay. So I appreciate that.

Thank you, Mrs. Ewing. that's all I have mayor thank you I would just like to to say I just want to want to acknowledge Mr. and Mrs. Ewing and thank you for all of your work and I want to remind the community that yes although we're doing something we all have a part to play and we all need to do something I can tell you that I know myself and some of you do but if you don't yet you should because Actions speak louder than words. My senior year of high school, we were undefeated. Our football team was undefeated. We made it to the second round of the state playoffs, and we lost to the eventual state champions that year, Maine South. But the interesting part about that is, my junior year, we had a far superior team in terms of the athleticism and everything. But you know what the difference was? We did not play as a team. A lot of people talked, people pushed blame, and they pointed fingers, but then some people didn't really do that much. We had a captain, for example, that was rarely there. I had to fill in for him a lot. And we've got to make sure that we lead by example. So I just want to encourage you, if you haven't been able to help out in some way, that you do so. I know myself and many of you also give to the Dwelling Place and other entities. So I would just encourage you to continue doing that. And the other thing that I would say is that, Mrs. Ewing and the rescue mission have provided all the numbers to us. They provide those to us regularly. And that's part of their actual agreement with the city of Danville is that they provide those. So that information is readily available if anyone should need it. At this time, you have before you 8A, an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance, special use permit number 274. Is there a motion to approve? Move to approve. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Roll call vote please.

Alderman Dettoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore? Yes. Hickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones?

Yes.

Cooper?

Yes.

11 yes.

11 yes. I just want to thank Ms. Phelps and Mr. Johnson for the efforts that you're making to help provide more opportunities for our youth and also to put a building that's been out of commission into commission. So thank you very much. It's much needed and much appreciated. You have before you the payrolls of July 10th and 17th. Is there a motion to approve those?

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Pichard?

Yes.

Hightower?

Yes.

Johnson?

Yes.

O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore? Yes. Teague? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. You also have before you the vouchers payable of July 14th and the 21st. Is there a motion to approve those? So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Yes, Alderman Teague.

I have one question on the July 14th vouchers pertaining to an EPA loan. It's item number 290.

That, I believe, Alderman Teague, is for the sewer work that was done across the causeway in the lake. We had sewage leaking into the lake, and we replaced. When the bridge was redone, they also rebuilt the sewer. And I think we have a zero or very low interest loan that's repaying that.

OK. How long have we had that loan, and what's the amount outstanding?

I can speak to a little bit of that. I think we've had that loan. I think we began repayments in 2020, and it's a 20-year life cycle on that. The premise behind that with the IEP loan program is the city, I believe, qualified for a 30% principal forgiveness, so we are getting improvements for 70 cents on the dollar, which is why we financed that. But I believe that will complete... Well, 20 years is the standard SRF loan. Okay.

So 2040-ish?

Yes.

Okay. Alderman Tigg, I can have the comptroller verify that when she's back. Okay, great. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane?

Yes.

Kaur? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague?

Yes.

Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Eleven, yes.

Eleven, yes. The motion carries. At this time, we'll receive our Public Works Committee Report. Chairman Poore?

Thank you, Mayor. Okay, 11a is an ordinance adopted in Danville 2050 comprehensive plan for the city of Danville, Illinois and a part of the city's planning jurisdiction beyond of corporation limits. Move to dispense reading. Ask for your approval. Need a second, please. Second. Any discussion, questions? Roll call, please.

Alderman Johnson?

Yes.

O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. DeToy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Hightower?

Yes.

Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. Thank you. Levin, B is an ordinance amending chapter 50 of the city code prohibiting the use of groundwater as a potable water supply in certain areas. Move to spend three minutes for approval. I need a second.

Second.

Questions? I see none, roll call.

Alderman O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. 11 yes.

11-S, thank you. 11-C is an ordinance approving the sale of certain real property to Long John Silvers LLC, including LJSOPCP2 LLC. Move to spend three and ask for your approval. And I will need a second.

Second.

And I will not tell you what the acronyms are. Okay, questions? Roll call, please.

Alderman Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper?

Yes.

Detoy? Yes. Pichard?

Yes.

Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore?

Yes.

Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. Thank you. Levin D has a resolution amending the fiscal year 26-27 fund, 122 budget, downtown TIF district. Move to Spence-Freedom. Ask for approval. Need a second.

Second.

Questions? Alderman?

I have one question. How many times this year has the tip money for this place, this current address, been amended?

Alderman Hightower, you're speaking about the actual, I believe it's 8 East North Street, where the location of Breezy Barn Grill. Are you just talking about the downtown tip of the hole? Yes, that one right there. two fiscal years has received two TIF grants. Yes, there is going to be a pretty direct benefit to this business, but the intent is to hopefully keep doing this downtown and expanding our sidewalks and allowing for more pedestrian traffic downtown and outdoor sitting. This is kind of... tagging along with the downtown revitalization plan. It just so happened that this business was the first to request this in front of their business.

And who owns the property?

The business is Fred and Ma, and that is, I know the name, it's a partnership, and one of them is Ashton Greer. And Sean Davis. And Sean Davis.

In the last three years, how many times has TIF money been given to this same location?

Yeah, this building, to my recollection, has received two TIF grants.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Any other questions?

Alderman Cooper. So explain exactly, Logan, what are we doing here? I mean, it looks like you're expanding the sidewalk on one side, and you say you want further advancement in the downtown area. What's your further advancement plan?

Hopefully, if we can keep identifying spaces where the process for this, first of all, was every single business impacted was directly contacted. We did not receive any pushback for this idea because, first and foremost, we want to make sure that they are served and that they didn't see that their business was going to be negatively impacted. So after we got essentially their blessing, we proceeded with this design of essentially removing five to six parking spots on this section of street. And me alluding to this is hopefully we can identify more spots where the businesses won't be impacted and we can have more outdoor dining or recreation on the sidewalks.

So the outside plan, is it going to be permanent seats or whatever there? I don't know what the plan is.

Yeah, they'll follow the rider license managed by the clerk's office. So essentially, as it states, they'll have to be insured with the city of Danville to operate essentially outdoor dining and beverages inside of fenced-in rooms. area and correct me if i'm wrong clerk but they have to be insured the city has to be additionally insured to have that rider license and they will technically be taking the liability for that space they'll be fencing in on a portion of sidewalk what there's going to be a fenced in area yeah per the writer per the writer ordinance there has to be a complete blockage from where they're going to be serving their clients

Which is approved by your office.

Which is approved by the building safety office. So they have to meet the ordinance prior to any issuance.

Okay, I'm going to throw this out there. I've been asked, VRBC, would they have been eligible for any of this stuff, doing what they did?

They already have one. They have one.

They did get some? They got money?

They already have that rider out in front of their location. Right, but did they get money?

They have the double-wide sidewalk already in front of their business. Yes.

And this is not payable back, I assume, were...

No, this is public infrastructure funds. Maybe if their sales go up and their property taxes go up, we'll get some. But this is more of a public infrastructure project.

And you're 100% behind it, I assume.

I support. We have planned on doing this in downtown, so I would support it by following the downtown revitalization plan, yes.

One of the things that people often say is that they would like more opportunities to sit outdoors and eat, especially downtown. So this would be a way for us to help provide that. The other thing I just want to remind everybody is TIF grants. It's only for a certain area. These have been in place for a while and that basically what happens is the extra tax money that's received goes into a fund that then is able to go back and be returned to the businesses in that area. So essentially what's happening now is that we just had in May, Logan, our applications. We were able to fund pretty much everyone that asks for some kind of support to enhance their business downtown in some way. And then essentially what happens is when the EAV goes up, that extra money goes back into this fund so that then we can do more to help businesses in whatever area of a TIF grant that is. So the great news is, as you all saw, we actually, the TIF has grown substantially, so we're receiving more money, and that's why we're able to actually do additional work downtown.

Yeah, and Mayor, one more item. This budget amendment is for, a part of it is for the sidewalk expansion, but the other 50% of this budget amendment is to allow for more downtown TIF applications. Since the revenues have been increasing so greatly, we can do that. So that is the announcement formally, I suppose, is if you're downtown, we're accepting more TIF applications.

We're opening another round.

If approved. Alderman Teague.

I'm going to ask a question about what Logan just said. TIF applications are open now?

Yeah. We did not get 100% expenditure from the initial round, so it never closed. OK. And this budget amendment would obviously allow for more, and it is still open.

Until?

Until we run out of money.

Thank you.

Anybody else? Roll call, please, on 11-D.

Alderman Teague?

Yes.

Ludwig? Yes. Jones?

Yes.

Cooper?

Yes.

Detoy? Yes. Pichard?

Yes.

Hightower?

I would love to see more tip money available for the east end of Danville, not pertaining to the Main Street corridor. This building is getting twice. Ward 3, we're not getting anything. It seems like it's all going in one direction. And I'm not a big fan, so I'm going to abstain.

Johnson?

Yes.

OKAYNE?

Yes.

POOR? Yes. PICKERING? Yes. TEN, yes.

TEN, yes. Thank you. Chairman, if I may appoint a clarification. Alderman, just so you know, there is a TIF, there is a Main Street Corridor TIF, that there is money available in it and no one has applied for that money.

We don't get an idea of what's going on. If it's money available for those businesses throughout Ward 3, why are we not getting any notice about it? Why isn't anybody following up on it? When they say the Main Street corridor, we all think, even me, we're out by DAC. That's where I'm thinking we're at. We're not where Ruler Food and those kind of businesses are.

That's correct. We did provide them with a several hundred thousand dollar grant to get all of their cooling equipment and things like that for that grocery store. It's been some years ago, but we did provide that. How many do you think? I don't know, but I can tell you it was substantial.

Ten or more? Yes, sir. Ten or more. We're talking currently. There's people that want to start businesses and get things going, but there's no money or no funds or no resources available. It's a shame that I had to go to step up to find resources for my community center. Nobody wants to help anything in the poor section, as some of y'all call it. No, the low income, there's nothing out there for us. Nothing, Mayor. Absolutely nothing. We have to take the scraps of what's there. And it's annoying. But yes, go ahead. Do whatever you need to do.

I would beg to differ. I haven't seen it. We have done millions of dollars of infrastructure work over on the East End. Infrastructure is fine. Completely rebuilding.

But how many jobs does that create? How many jobs does that create for the construction? But it doesn't give the common man anything.

It gives the common man a better quality of life.

How is he getting a better quality of life when there's no jobs or anything coming out of it?

Alderman, when people have been complaining, as you and I have talked about before, people complain about forever the roads. They complain about the sewer and their areas flooding, right? Totally understand that. And they also complain about the storm sewers and things like that. We have spent millions of dollars in making sure that that's better. Also in quality of life in terms of the parks.

But we don't see $50,000 going anywhere else. We don't see $50,000 going to a business out east.

Alderman Hightower, if I may, in Ward 4, we just moved Dine's machine out there, which is dozens of jobs. And also, anyone at any time, if they have a solid business plan, meaning they actually have a business plan, and I don't mean... Everybody that comes. Alderman, I'm sorry if I may.

Go ahead.

If not a chat GPT program, right, an actual legitimate business program.

Who doesn't know about a legitimate business program? With the funding. Because we're minorities. We don't know. We know what goes on. We know how to write business grants. We know how to make plans. Come on, Mayor. We need something for the East End.

I would encourage, if anyone has any ideas, we are always open for redevelopment agreements. I meet probably monthly with people with various ideas from all parts of town, including the East End. But what I would tell you is they have to have legitimate plans and also they have to bring some of their own funding to the table. The city can't do it all.

What do you think, everybody in the East End's poor? No, sir, that's not what I think at all. Do you think we don't have money in the East End?

That's... Alderman Hightower, I believe you know me well enough, brother, by now to know that I absolutely don't believe that. You have to remember, I grew up one block from you.

Again, like I told everybody, at the step up, you're on the outside looking in. Get in the valley and see for yourself.

I walk around my neighborhood.

Your neighborhood is out by Logan Street. You're not in the dungeon. You're not in the ghetto. You're not in the streets like we are. And I don't need to hear it from anybody. I'm frustrated every time I come to this meeting. I see your meetings everywhere, out at the great coffee shops and all of that. Nobody comes in the ghetto and talk. Nobody does. That's not true.

Can I just say something? I would just say, I think the people in the Elmwood neighborhood would disagree with you.

So what? You bought some playground equipment that looked like it came out the damn cheap department at Menards. We need some answers.

And it's interesting that we're getting the same exact playground equipment at Liberty Park up north. Mrs. Pickering.

Well, and Alderman Hightower, I understand we're from the same ward, and I disagree with you totally.

We're not from the same side of the street, ma'am.

Yes, sir, we are. You there taking over property. Yes, sir, we are.

Owning property that's in that ward. Sir, we are. We're from the same place.

And they are coming around. I just want to tell you I disagree, and I would like to talk to you afterwards.

There's nothing to talk about. We're not making action.

We have actually had people come.

Let's continue with the vote. Maybe you can get with Logan and talk about a TIF district for that area, see what the process is, and we can go from there.

That sounds great to me.

Thank you. There's no objection like to take E and F together. E is a resolution approving the homeless shelter services funding agreement between the city of Dammel and Dammel Rescue. F is a resolution amending fiscal year 26-27 budget for fund 060, community development for homeless shelter services funding agreement. No objection like taking both together. Move to spend three and ask for your approval.

And I'll need a second.

Second.

Okay. Questions? Alderman Cooper.

First of all, I think we're very fortunate to have the Ewings run this organization, and I'm glad they are. And trust me, I'm 100% in your corner. A couple questions I have. Apparently $2,500 a month is not enough to meet what you need. My concern would be what if, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but what if Ewing's decide they put too much in there and they just can't do it anymore, then what are we going to do?

You want me to? Go ahead, Logan.

Yeah. Per the contract, we would have to find a way to recapture those funds and make sure that they can be utilized. But I can speak to efforts that I have been putting towards this homeless shelter in the last two to three years. We would find a way.

But in your opinion, is this just a two-year Band-Aid?

No. The idea is to get the processes in place with the city's support and help, which we have received all the documents as attachments to do this to ensure that at least they have the board and policy in place to run a proper not-for-profit. And second, this is to stimulate cash growth throughout the next two years so they can get an actual bank account flowing. Hopefully the insurance doesn't keep increasing so we can get to that point. But that was the initial plan before they got this most recent hike. It's to make sure that their bank account starts to grow and that they can actually start making progress towards what seems to be constant bill hikes, right? So maybe they can get a savings account built from this.

OK, and this is a men's shelter. Say we get a woman's shelter, a family shelter built or whatever, are we going to be able to support them in some sort of way like this?

I think I would push that back to the city council for that question.

How much is your insurance bill here?

she's got a copy of it is that the 2700 one okay yeah I got that okay no more no more questions my question and maybe Mrs. Ewing could come to the podium because it's really a question for her the bill that we have is that for a month a quarter that's a month that's a month

That's a month.

Because I've been working with them on this. So one thing we're looking at is we're looking at other bids on the insurance. We're trying to determine how we can get that done so that we can better use those $2,500. Second thing that we're doing is we're going to be talking about what to do with the building that is uninhabitable. um we're going to have to make a decision on that because that is a huge chunk of that insurance bill is to inch because it's liability it's a big building and liability is based on square footage and so it we're looking at what are our options okay okay we're looking at what our options are for that building because if we could not insure it or demo it get grant money to like but i haven't talked to them so i don't want to step out of place i'm here to support her um but that's one of the things that we've been working on so we're well aware that that 2500 does not get us like I wouldn't call it a Band-Aid, I would call it a splint until the bone heals. You know what I mean? So it's going to take us a while to get the insurance down, to figure out what we're doing with the building, and all of those things. And then we're looking at long-term grant funding and building a nest egg that we will have when emergencies happen. You know, like a business. That's our goal is to get there. So I'm done now. Sorry.

If I recall correctly, and you can tell me if my recollection is wrong, one of the things that kept you all from opening when you guys first took over was actually obtaining the insurance and that it took you a very long time to find insurance willing to carry you. Is that accurate?

Yes, that was accurate. Like I said, we're learning as we're going. But the insurance we ended up finding, it cost us $8,000 down the first time. And that was $2,598 a month. That was a year ago. So when we had to renew the insurance, they wanted $5,000 down to renew it. And I'm like, I thought, I mean, this is all new to me. Okay. So we had a grant that came in. It was a surprise check. It said grant, and it said $5,000. I said, Jesus. So we had that. So right in, was it two weeks later, they wanted the $2,500. And we couldn't do it because that would have put our account way in the negative. So what they did with that month, they put it out within, was it 11 months, 10 months or 11? That's what made it $27.98 a month. So we've been struggling to keep, you know, because donations have been. I mean falling off that we you know and I don't want it to close but this will help us so we able to find you know maybe some insurance like I said hope is trying to help us find better insurance but at the meantime this is what we have to pay and that's not including the library nothing like that or utilities

And given that you are also a cooling place, right? So then unlike my house where I'm not there all day and my AC can be set to 80, you got to have your AC full blast all the time.

And Ms. Ewing, Bobby was here last week. I mean, that's a success story, one of the residents. And talking about how much it's meant to him to have somebody that cares, getting him off the street, getting him some value, some purpose, some training. And that's what's the important thing that I see of what you're doing.

Yes, because we want them to feel like even though they are homeless, at least still have their integrity and still be able where I could be. I see people. I see people in need. That's what I see. I don't see a homeless. I don't see black and white. I see a man that fell off. We don't know. It takes a minute for them to open. But they're somewhere. They lost their job, or they lost their wife, or they got their hours cut and they couldn't make it. Here, they're able to be vulnerable and able to be, you know, somebody that cares and talks to them, encourage them that it's okay. You know, God's going to open a door because we do. You know, we speak life into them. And that's when we want to keep encouraging them that it's going to be all right. You know, it might be just temporary, but we'll help you in every possible which way, which we have.

Chairman, they've also helped a number of people transition to permanent housing and provide other resources as well.

were you finished no I'm done okay I just had a point of clarification so this is for both buildings correct okay and the thrift store oh oh we three buildings yeah this is okay three buildings because we have like 213 north bowman right we have the thrift store and we also have the big building okay three billion store we give way clothes right OK. Need for family that need. They either got fire, anything. We give clothes. Homeless that come in, we give them clothes. Right. Here, go shopping. We want them to feel normal. OK.

Thank you.

We do.

Thank you. Robert Cooper, did you have something?

That big building they got, is there any use for it? I mean, can't we just condemn it and raise it?

We had one of the things that we did in trying to assist Danville Rescue Aldermen is we had a study commissioned about what it would take to get the building back up to par. And unfortunately, it's millions of dollars. We have not had an assessment of what it would take to demolish it yet. My guess is that it would have lots of asbestos. Yeah.

Yeah. We had a little asbestos report done. It's not too bad. But if I were to put a number on it, with my experience, you're going to between $200,000 and $400,000 probably to demolish that building.

Oh, I get it. But, I mean, if they're insuring a building that's not worth anything, can't we assume ownership of it and get them off that building?

I would not recommend that we assume such a liability, unfortunately. That would be a liability to all the taxpayers. I don't think that that would be wise. I think probably what we need to look towards is a plan to help them maybe get it demolished at some point.

I think the sooner the better would be on that one.

It is, but just as a reminder, it's 15 to 20, on average, $15,000 to $20,000 a house to tear down.

I understand that.

So you would have dozens of houses in neighborhoods that would not be able to be remediated if we were to undertake that.

This is the building with the elevator problem, right?

It doesn't have an elevator. Alderman Jones, this is the former school on the southwest corner of Bowman and Fairchild.

OK, roll call, please.

Alderman Jones?

Yes.

Cooper?

Yes.

DeToy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore?

Yes.

Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. Thank you. Levin G has a resolution approving the purchase of playground equipment for Liberty Park. Moved by Spencer Reed. I ask for your approval. I need a second.

Second.

Questions? Roll call, please.

Alderman Cooper?

Yes.

Detoy? Yes. Pichard? Yes. Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Eleven, yes.

Eleven, yes. Thank you. Eleven H is a resolution approving the CAPER for program year 2025. Move to spend three. And that's for your approval.

Second. Oh.

Second? Yes. Okay, questions? Okay, roll call please.

Alderman DeToy? Yes. Pichard?

Yes.

Hightower? Yes. Johnson? Yes. O'Kane? Yes. Poore? Yes. Pickering? Yes. Teague?

Yes.

Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper?

Yes.

Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. Thank you. 11i is a resolution approving an intergovernmental agreement with Newell Township Road District for construction, operation, and maintenance of the Bullion Springs Road improvements. Moves dispense with a read and ask for your approval. I'll need a second.

Second.

Had a great big hearing last week on this. My gosh, it was packed. And staff did a great job. A lot of the residents were very happy. So it's a long-needed project happening. But anyway, questions? Seeing none, roll call.

Alderman Pichard?

Yes.

Hightower?

Yes.

Johnson? Yes. O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore?

Yes.

Pickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. Detoy? Yes. Levin, yes.

Levin, yes. Thank you.

Any other information? No?

That concludes the report, Mayor. Thank you, Chairman Poore. At this time, we'll receive our public service committee report. Vice Chairman Pickering.

Our next meeting, well, I guess, is there any information from our public service? Anyone want to say anything? No? OK. Our next meeting will be July the 28th at 6 PM in these chambers. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chairman. This time it brings us to item number 13, items of information, alderman pay and potential change in treasurer selection. I provided for you from Corporation Council a draft of both of those. I apologize we weren't able to get it out to you earlier. But I just wanted you to know that we do have something for you to start discussion. Corporation Counsel, did you want to just talk them through very briefly about what you did with the Alderman Compensation?

So this is a draft, and I incorporated some of the issues that were brought up by the council. And basically what this does, it addresses two different elections because seven of the older persons come up for reelection in 2027 and then the other seven in 2029. And if it's the pleasure of the council and you want to move from having a salary set, which is paid monthly, to having it paid for meetings attended, actual council meetings attended, then that's what I've provided. And it was brought up at the last meeting that it was contemplated that the alderman could be absent two times. And then after that, they wouldn't be compensated for an absence. And we've made adjustments to the wage administration program as outlined in the salaries of elected officials concerning aldermen. So one thing to keep in mind, this is a good result in a decrease if you want to continue with the notion that you would have two absences and then no pay after that. that you can't change an alderman's salary during that alderman's term. And this would have to be done 180 days before the new term begins. So keeping that in mind, that sort of explains the program that's at the bottom of that third page there. If there's any other issues that you wanted to address in this that can be added to and amended in any way you see fit.

And I would just, Corporation Counsel, add one note. You'll note in here that it would have to be done by October 8, 2026 to make it effective for the next election. Yes, Alderman Teague.

Two things. One, can this be emailed to us?

Yes, of course.

The second is just to note that so there's no change in pay, only that the pay is associated with attendance. Because I know when we discussed it previously, I know my proposal was The reason why I was proposing attendance is because it makes an increase in pay more palatable for the citizens to be able to say aldermen are, it's worth aldermen being paid more particularly if that pay is tied to their attendance. If we're not, if we're not tying it to if we're not changing the amount of pay and all we're doing is changing it to attendance it doesn't matter to me because i very rarely miss a meeting um um but There has to be some, for me, it was a give and take. It was, let's give the alderman more money to be able to stimulate more participation in city government from other people because many of our aldermanic seats are unopposed every single election. So if we actually increase pay, we might actually get more people running for these seats. However, if we're going to increase pay, then we should have it tied to attendance. If we're not going to increase pay, increase pay then I think that people who might have health issues or other things could as Corporation Council said Might have an issue again for me I very rarely miss a meeting, even though I'm not gonna be here next week. I very, because I'm going to a conference, because the only time I miss a meeting is because I can't control the schedule. So for me, it doesn't matter. But for somebody else, that might be problematic. And I just feel like, If we're going to make the change, then we should make all of the changes that were being proposed at once and not just have it be according to just change pertaining to attendance and nothing else. And then the other thing, because I know some people said, well, they're happy to forego and increase or forego their pay. And as has already been suggested, the shelter is a great place for that money to go. So... That's just my opinion on this. I think it's great that we might be looking at the attendance portion, but to me, the attendance portion is warranted if there's an increase.

Thank you, Alderman Teague. Two things. Number one, if someone has a medical issue, they are able to phone in and attend that way. So they can request to do that so that they would not miss out on any of their pay. The second thing is, thus far, I believe you were the only one who has proposed the changing of the salary. And in fact, many of the aldermen spoke against changing and increasing the salary. I did not include that because it seemed that thus far anyways, at least verbally, you were the only one who expressed a request for an increase in pay for that position. Yes, Alderman Ludwig.

I'm hoping that if we do decide this is something that we want to go forward with that we will discuss remote meetings and what our ordinance specifically says about that because currently it's only we're only allowed to attend remotely if it's an illness for one of the aldermen but if there's a family medical emergency for spouses or any other family member I think there's a lot of times that our aldermen here around this table miss meetings because of spouses or other family members having medical emergencies. And I don't know if that's inconsistent with the state statute, but we may want to revisit that ordinance.

Certainly, that's something we can consider as well.

Thank you.

Yes.

Alderman Cooper.

I've had two or three people ask me about this decree, getting a copy. Can I get a hard copy of that court decree that Brenda's talking about?

I don't have it.

Yeah, I can email that to everybody if they'd like.

Yeah, we'll get that out to you, Alderman. Absolutely.

No, another thing, going on what Ms. Lugwood said, you know, you got two excused evidences and agree something else may happen further down the road. Who's going to okay or say this is an okay excuse or this is not an okay excuse or where are you going?

We didn't put that in there at all intentionally. This is two unexcused absences. Because you can attend for medical reasons and such, that would not be included as an unexcused absence. So we didn't address that at all. After discussion with you all last time, essentially, I don't want to be the one deciding, nor should our clerk have to decide whether something is excused or not. That's why we just made it two general unexcused absences for whatever reason. That way, there's not someone determining such.

And we're going to talk about this in each committee meeting. And before we go to, when are you wanting to vote on this?

I'm not wanting to vote on any particular time. This is something that was requested by the alderman. We have to make a decision by October 8 at the latest in order for it to go in effect for the next election. But yes, alderman, to answer your question, we shall be bringing it to the committees for discussion and consideration.

Because I won't support this change, any change at all.

Me either. Me either.

I just think we're here, we know what our responsibilities are, and we do them. So I just can't support it.

I completely agree that we take this position or elected to this position to serve and we should serve it's not about our pocketbooks and I am NOT for any kind of race I think we are reimbursed adequately no we're not going to get rich by any means, but it does help. But I'm a little bit disturbed about the absence part. Most of us are always here anyway. We miss very, very few. And I think that has to do with our integrity and our commitment to the city, to our constituents. It bothers me a little bit that we're even discussing pay because, to me, it shouldn't be about pay. It should be about service. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Satoy. Any, yes, mistake.

I would just like to add that the main reason why I brought up pay is because in the analysis that I did at the same time that I was analyzing the mayor's salary, I was also analyzing Alderman's salary. And when you compare us to all of the other cities that are just like ours, we have the lowest pay. And also, if I recall correctly, when we increased the pay two, four years ago, whenever it was, it was the first pay increase in over 20 years. So the same arguments that were made about the mayor's pay and why it should increase are the exact same arguments that can be made about the alderman's pay and why it should increase. Because we want to be able to have more qualified people. We want to be able to have people who don't have to make a difficult decision about this. We want people who who feel like we want people who are younger and who don't have to worry about other income streams to be able to support their time for all of those reasons. When I look at the table that I provided to everyone back when we were talking about the mayor's pay, The closest to us was Calumet, I'm sorry, Quincy, and theirs was 6,500. So ours is 4,200 a year. Quincy's is 6,500 a year. Then Belvedere, 7,103. Alton was 9,000. Everybody else is five figures. So for me, this is about being on par with other cities. We have the highest paid mayor compared to other cities and the lowest paid alderman compared to other cities. For me, it's a data decision, and it's a data decision alone. And if the data had said that all of the other cities were only paying about $5,000 or less, then I would never have made that proposal.

Thank you. Yes, Mrs. Pickering.

I just have something about the attendance. I would say we've been very, very fortunate in our last four or six years that our attendance has been good. But I do remember we had people that maybe would show up at meetings three times a year maybe. I mean, it was awful. So we're very fortunate now. So the attendance, I'm up in the air about it. But I know at one time we really had some problems with attendance.

Alderman Persard. Yeah, I don't really think the attendance should be a big issue. My time that I have served here with probably three different councils, I have never seen anyone that was not available to come to almost every meeting. We all can have a legitimate excuse. Once in a while, I think that should be acceptable. But the attendance is not a big issue to me. But I think whatever pay that we get is very much deserving. I mean, this last 10 days, I have run my hind end off about calls all over town about various things. Gas is $4. I got a four-wheel drive pickup, so maybe I should be driving a donkey. I don't know. But what I'm saying is our pay, as your pay, or these people's working jobs, their pay is earned. They deserve it. But I will also vote for a no pay increase.

Thank you. All right, any other discussion on that item?

Yes, Alderman O'Kane. My two cents in that, you know, the two unexcused absence I could see. But if somebody's sick, they call in or they're, you know, you may be in the hospital and can't attend the meeting electronically. Or we had an alderman that we lost, what's it been, a year and a half ago. He was sick for quite a while. And we're going to pull his pay because he's not eligible. I don't think that'd be right either. So we've got to set up some kind of excusable absences. Sure.

Just as a reminder, all we have done is put into words the things that you all said at the council meeting last time. So we can certainly take everything that you all have provided into consideration and make some adjustments and then bring that to committee for further discussion. All right, you also have. Yes, Alderman Johnson.

If the pay doesn't matter, we should set up something for the shelter from our pay.

So I do have Corporation Council looking into that to see if we can divert, if you can forego or divert your salary. So we will have an answer for you on that as well soon. Through electronic transfer, just write a check.

That's right.

I always write a check.

All right. You also have before you a potential change in the treasurer selection. Corporation Council, do you want to provide a brief overview? And again, this is based upon the feedback that you all provided to us at the last meeting.

So I was requested to draft an ordinance which would change the position of the city treasurer from an elected position to a appointed position. And I've prepared that. per the request of the council. I would also point out that this could also be accomplished by a referendum. And we went through that process a couple of meetings ago, which would be placing the question of whether the citizens want to change the treasurer's position from elected to appointed. And then that question would be placed on the ballot. So for tonight, per the request, you have in front of you just a draft of an ordinance, which would essentially change the position from elected to appointed. delete that section of our city code which is regarding an elected a position it would change it to a appointed position and you can see on the the bottom of the first page top of the second that uh it would be listed along with the other appointed positions we took the opportunity to clean up that section as well primarily there's we've added the city treasurer as an appointed office and we added the fire chief and the police chief Because as it exists now, the position was the director of public safety, which we no longer have. So we just cleaned that up while we were addressing this. And then we put it in the section for 3208 . It's put there because there was a space. We had that space available, and that's where it seemed like it would fit into the ordinance. Again, this is . at the pleasure of the council. So it would be up to the council to provide direction moving forward.

DAVID BURRAGE.

Alderman Cooper. I'm probably in favor of the appointed position. But I guess one of my concerns is what Brenda was saying about this decree thing. I'm really not too familiar with it. Can somebody state what all that is?

I believe Corporation Council spoke to that previously. But if you could, Corporation Council, just remind everyone about that.

So we did speak about this a couple of meetings ago. There was a 19, I believe it was a 1987 order. It was a federal lawsuit, which essentially created the aldermanic system of government that we have today. And the federal judge provided that the alderman, I'm sorry, the mayor, alderman, and the treasurer would be elected positions in that order. It dealt with other things as well. So as I stated, I will email that to you all so you can read for yourselves. So what you would be doing is you would be amending the form of government, changing the form of government from the treasurer's position being elected and to an appointed position.

And you reached out to the court about this, correct?

Yeah, they don't even have anything. And the reason we were reaching out is because there's a provision. I don't have it in front of me. It's what we discussed previously, that the federal court retained jurisdiction. And this was back in, I think, 87. So our question was, and I believe they retained jurisdiction so they could see that the provisions in that order were being complied with. And I believe the state statute allows home rule municipalities to change their form of government. And in this case, it can be done by ordinance. There's a position for it to be done by ordinance, certainly by referendum, which would be allowing the people to vote on that.

A question I have, I haven't read that decree and I'm not familiar with it. Like I said, I've had three or four people just recently ask me about it. But there had to be a purpose for that decree to be made. What is that purpose that they were going after?

I would like to know if I remember John back in the day right was a federal decree started across the state we saw what our plaintiffs got involved followed the guidance of some of the other communities and also had a consent decree. It was made as a guarantee, seven wards, two aldermen for each ward, one ward being primarily dominated by African Americans, so two African Americans could be elected as aldermen. whereas before the commissioner form was elected at large, seven commissioners, very, or no representation, basically north of Voorhees, I mean south of Voorhees, and so the consent decree made the city into seven wards, and that's why in the censuses we have to redraw our ward lines to make sure we stick with that.

Right, but as a...

The treasurer, the mayor and the treasurer were the two positions to be elected at large.

Was it the mayor or clerk?

Originally it was the treasurer. It could have been treasurer or clerk, but I think with the research that the Corporation Council has done...

But there had to be a purpose for that treasurer to be elected, and I guess that's what I'm trying to find out.

I guess they tried to determine, okay, what two positions, or what positions are going to be elected citywide without any, you know, at large, basically.

Yeah, I think essentially, and I think you touched on the primary purpose, and I think Ms. Brown, when she spoke, touched on it as well. It was a commissioner form of government, as you mentioned, and we moved to an automatic so that there was more representation in the entirety of the city.

Yes, Chairman. No, I'm good. OK. OK.

I just read it quickly that there's no requirements for the office. I think we need to put some kind of requirements in there, some kind of education, some kind of background, some kind of experience so that the mayor can't just hire a good old boy.

No, it's with the consent of the council.

Right. But many times we get an email on Thursday afternoon or Friday, and we're voting on Tuesday. i think we need a little bit of that in there number two i think one of the older men has that ask you to go outside of the city and ask somebody to review this too so just to cover ourselves make sure that we're not stepping into un you know areas that we shouldn't be Yes.

Alderman O'Kane, anything else?

Yes, sir.

Yes, Alderman Hightower. I got one question.

If you can explain to me so I totally understand section 3, where these positions, I want to make sure I understand this correctly before I even open my mouth. All these positions here will be the mayor's hire, is that right?

That's the way they are under existing statute, yes, sir, with the concurrence of the city council, which means you all have to vote to approve the appointments. I can't just randomly appoint whoever I want to.

OK, because for a while there, it seems like somebody was just trying to make a way for themselves that's running for mayor. That's the way I understood it. But I'm glad you straightened it out. I'm just, you know, I'm researching a lot of things. So OK, that's fine.

Yes, Alderman Teague.

One of the things that strikes me as I read this is it just says, the treasurer shall perform duties and functions of the office as provided by statute and ordinance. I'm assuming statute meaning state statute?

Yes.

Okay. So I went to state statute to see the responsibilities of the treasurer and what the state statute says about the treasurer. And one of the things that I see in state statute is that there is a provision in Section 3.1-35-75 that talks about what happens if a treasurer fails to file their annual account and violations and penalties for anyone who fails, neglects, or refuses to discharge any duty imposed on that officer. um and it has it lists a list of sections 33.1-35-65 through 3.1-35-75 or violates any provisions and it says that that person is guilty of a petty offense upon conviction and shall be fined and it seems to me that One of the problems that we're trying to solve with this is how do we make sure that we don't end up back in the situation that we were in previously that our current treasurer has done a wonderful job of straightening out for us, which is making sure that all of our Our ducks are in a row and all of our T's are crossed and our I's are dotted as it pertains to the treasurer's position because the treasurer's position is so vital to our ability to receive funds from state government, whether that's tax dollars, grant dollars, all of it. But there are provisions already for what happens when a treasurer is derelict in their duties. And it also leads me to believe that we could also impose provisions by ordinance if a treasurer is derelict in their duties. Therefore, we could stay where we are and come up with ordinance for what happens when a treasurer is derelict in their duties, which then I think solves all problems for all parties involved because because we could still make sure that we are in keeping with the spirit of the decision to have two citywide elected offices as was the case when the consent decree was created in 1987 and make sure that we are able to hold the treasurer to account if any treasurer in the future, because not our current one, but any treasurer in the future might become derelict in their duties in the same manner that a treasurer in the past allegedly had been. I, for one, understanding the great effort that the seven plaintiffs put forth in order to get us here and change the form of government want to honor and respect the decision that was made and yet still want to address the problem that we know we could have. And even though we can't, remove someone from office does not mean that there can't be fines or fees or penalties imposed on that person holding that office for being derelict in their duties. That is what state law provides for. Now, they're not stiff, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't make them be stiff and still be able to do both. So I, for one, am not in support of this. I would only be in support of this if it was taken to the citizens and then by referendum a change was made. I am not comfortable at all with us sitting here making this decision that we know is going to last into perpetuity because the decision that was made that brought it here was done so by court order. I think that's all I have.

Thank you, Alderman Teague. And I will have corporation counsel look into whether or not we can impose additional or stiffer penalties than what are permissible by state. Sometimes you are allowed to, and sometimes you are not. So I will have that investigated.

And I also have a question as it pertains to that. So when we were suspicious of our prior treasurer, did we ever do anything concerning penalties then?

We examined every option and were prepared to make recommendations had she not stepped down.

OK.

Yes, Alderman Pickering.

I do understand all the time that was spent. And I do respect Mrs. Brown. And I respect the people that did all this. I do. And it was very, at that time, I think it was very, very significant that it was done. But I think we need to remember this is 40 years ago. Things change in 40 years. And we have seen that change. with the last treasurer. We know the problems we had. One thing I know was that our credit reference went down because of that, I do believe. And there were other reasons why. And I'm hoping that maybe we can find out what this cost us, maybe, from our treasurer now, what it cost us.

I can all check with the treasurer, and I'm sure he'd be willing to put that together for us.

And I do respect. I do. I honestly respect what they did. And at the time, I think it was something we needed to do. But again, that was 40 years ago, and sometimes we have to change things.

Thank you. One thing that I want to make sure that is clear is I don't think that anyone on this council has suggested that we change the way the aldermen are done. I can tell you I vehemently oppose that. I don't think anyone has suggested that, because we have to make sure that we have representation across the city of Danville. That has not been suggested by anyone, and that's not something that I, as your mayor, would support either. Any further? Yes, Alderman Hightower.

With that being said, how did these two items, number 13 A and B, even come to council?

Because we had a discussion at council recently, and you all as a whole requested that these items come forward. We basically took all the discussion that we had, Alderman Hightower, from the aldermen, from your voices, and put it here. And that's why we're bringing it also back multiple times so that it can be adjusted, changed, or gotten rid of if that's not something that the aldermen wish to continue pursuing.

I respect that, but I just don't like the fact that we've taken up the time that we should be working on city problems instead of discussing someone's pay and stuff like that. It's becoming ridiculous. Every time I turn around, somebody wants to cut somebody's money or they want to, you know, just keep messing with their livelihood, and I just don't agree with that. So just for future reference, if you're going to be talking about doing something with somebody's money, that should be in closed sessions, I believe. That's my only opinion.

Alderman, we cannot, by law, discuss for these public positions, the elected positions, we cannot discuss that in closed session, lawfully.

Unfortunately.

I just felt like this was a complete waste of time tonight.

Thank you, Alderman. Any further items? Yes, Alderman Detoy.

I would like to see more information, like what did it cost us by doing it the way we've done it? When you see the bottom line, the price tag, and what the citizens have had to pay because of the situation, I think we need more information on what it cost the city because of the situation that we had before. Yes, ma'am. Yes, Ms. Teague.

I have a question for Corporation Council pertaining to section 3.1-15-5 of Illinois Municipal Code. This is a division on elected officials, elected officers generally, and it says In all cities incorporated under this code, there shall be elected a mayor, all the persons, a city clerk, and a city treasurer, except in the case of a city of 10,000 or fewer. Because the thing that I was curious about was the number of citywide election positions that are required. This seems to, and I'm assuming you already have research on this or have looked this up. This is just something that just popped into my head. It seems to me that state statute requires mayor clerk treasurer be city-wide positions obviously we don't have clerk i know that i had heard that there was a decision made at some point in time for city clerk not to be elected but to be appointed um and i'm just curious to know whatever legal research there is from you or IML or whomever pertaining to the number of citywide positions required, because I do know that in some other cities that do not have, well, I don't know if they do not have an elected treasurer or not, but I do know other cities have ward alderman and then citywide alderman or at large alderman. And I don't know if it's because state statute requires a specific number of citywide elected positions or not. So that's the thing that I'm just curious about. And if you haven't done any, so if you haven't, if you have something on that already, I would love for you to share that. And if you don't have anything on that already, I would love to research that.

Yeah, would you give me that site again, please, that you just wrote?

65ILCS5-3.1-15-5 from Chapter 24, Paragraph 3.1-15-5.

Yeah, I don't have that in front of me now. I know we've looked into that and done some research. I don't know that we're required to maintain those two elected positions. And as you mentioned, that statute also requires that our clerk be an elected position. And I've... I don't know when that changed. I know it's mentioned in that 1987 federal court order, but it's not addressed as an elected position. So I will take a closer look at that, and I can get back with you on that.

OK, thank you. And the effective date of this particular section is June of 21. So I don't know if there is a prior version that might be different. I'm not sure. I just Googled it, and that's where it led me.

Thank you, Alderman Teague. Alderman, I apologize to you, but we do have a need to go into closed session. At this time, I would entertain a motion to go into closed session under section 2C21 of the Open Meetings Act to approve closed session minutes and section 2C2 to discuss collective bargaining matters and salary schedules. Is there a motion to do so?

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Detoy? Yes. Pichard?

Yes.

Johnson?

Yes. McCain? Yes.

Poore?

Yes.

Pickering? Yes. Teague?

Yes.

Ludwig? Yes. Jones?

No.

Cooper?

No.

8 yes.

8 yes. We are adjourned to closed session.

Second.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. Thank you very much. You have before you item 15, a resolution approving a collective of bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 538. Is there a motion to approve with a slight word change subject to the approval by the label agreement?

So moved. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion or debate? Roll call vote, please.

Alderman Detoy. Yes. Pichard. Yes. Hightower. Yes. Johnson. Yes. O'Kane. Yes. Hoare. Yes. Teague. Yes. Pickering. Yes. Ludwig. Yes. Jones.

Yes.

Cooper.

Yes.

Levinas. Yes.

11 yes the motion carries if there would be no objection i would entertain a motion to approve item 16 and 17 together item 16 is a resolution releasing certain closed session minutes item 17 is a resolution authorizing the destruction of certain closed session tapes and audio recordings is there a motion to do so so second it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion or debate roll call vote please

Alderman Pichard? Yes. Hightower?

Yes.

Johnson? Yes. O'Kane?

Yes.

Poore? Yes. Hickering? Yes. Teague? Yes. Ludwig? Yes. Jones? Yes. Cooper? Yes. DeToy? Yes. 11 yes.

11 yes. The motion carries. Having satisfied the agenda, I would entertain a motion to adjourn.

Can we talk about them all for a second? I mean, when we found out that roof was leaking, did the city do anything about that? Or has the city done anything about this roof?

Our staff went there immediately. And that's when we got the closure of, that's when County Market closed their doors. And we are in process with the rest of them all.

So has our code enforcement team gone in there and have we written them up or per se written them up or done anything?

Yes, sir. That's in process.

And that mall is divided into what? Slumberland owns theirs.

There are multiple sections, Alderman. So Slumberland owns the portion that used to be what we would consider Sears. So the Sears Automotive Center and the shoe store. So they own all of that portion. Then there's what we call the grocery section or the anchored. That's what was County Market down to Ross, those four stores. That's owned by a separate individual. And then what we would consider the rest of the mall is owned by a third individual.

And the rest of the mall is pretty much vacant, isn't it?

No, they are still two stores operating. City Trends and Hibbett Sports.

But I've seen videos of the mall, and I haven't been in there, and I wish I did. Is there tile and everything falling down, barrels all around the place where it's collecting water?

Well, you saw the video, so I think you've answered your own question.

Well, I wanted to make sure, but I mean, where do we go from here, I guess? I mean, the county was a pretty big loss. Just where... What can we do, or what are we planning on doing?

We are in the process. We are in the legal process for the portion that we can address.

Which is the county side?

No, which any of it that's leaking, we have in process.

I'm done.

Any further discussion or debate? We've had a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. We are adjourned.